Up off of the floor

Now that I have picked myself up from being sick, again. I have so much to post about, but very little energy. And, to top it off, I had an allergic reation yesterday. Of all things to be allergic to, food wise, I am allergic to roasted or grilled tomatoes. I can eat them raw, in sauces, in soup, sundried, what have you, but roast or grill one, and I am a walking, itching welt. All I can say is, praise Benedryl. And where did I come into contact with said tomato, you might ask, well let me tell you. A sales rep from a local trucking line brought in pizza, one of which was a veggie pizza with tomatoes. I picked them off, but the juice must have gotten me. Needless to say, I was in Wally World at 6:30, in my pajama pants and a hoodie, looking for my salvation.

On other fronts, I have received my Harvest Sock Swap package from Sheryl. I took pics, I just haven't been able to post them yet. And such lovely goodies, too. I'll post them as soon as I can. I will be a little late mailing my package to my pal, as I am still working on a few hand made gifts.

On the Christmas knittng front, I have 2 items done, and 5 more to go. I'm getting there.

Ok, I feel a nap coming on. I'll post more when I have a little more energy.

Just another day

Ok, so I went over my list of Christmas knitting (I know, so close to it and I'm just thinking about it) to see what I needed to order this weekend. I am amazed at how light it is this year. And I've even added a person to the list. But this year it will be 3 pairs of fingerless gloves, 1 pair of sock and 3 scarves. All things that I can crank out easily. And, I have Katie helping me with the Charity Knitting, which was 3 scarves. I am a quarter of the way through the scarf I started on Thrusday, Katie is working on one, and that will leave the last one for me, but it's an easy pattern.

On the sewing front, Angie (my SIL in Dayton) and I are planning a big, themed costume ball for next Halloween. We picked an historical era, the late 18th century. We have started picking fabrics, and discussing construction of under garments. We've decided that we are going all out, and as historically accurate as we can get. Well, as accurate as we can get with sewing machines and sergers. lol. So far, I have settled on a deep burgundy crushed velvet for the bodice and over skirt. I need to find a fabric that will go well with it for the petticoat and other contrasting areas. I'm thinking cream. Cream satin and lace, and maybe pearl embellishments. I even ordered a book that I have been wanting for a long time. It's this one. If you like to make costumes, let me recommend this book. It's hard to get a copy, as it's so popular, but it's well worth it. It may not be historically accurate in cut and construction, but the finished garment is fab! I have made a costume from this book, about 6 years ago, and it came out great. This is going to be so fun. I'm even going to teach Katie, so she can make her own gown. I'll update as I can on that one.

Later.

The Halloween Aftermath

Ok, time to share the pics from last night.

We had a few last minute changes in costume. Annie had decided that she wanted to be a Pokemon Trainer, so all that required was a small back pack and my collectible Poke ball. Katie was going to go as a homicidal maniac, which didn't need anything. That was, until we picked up Taylor. Taylor was dressed as a goth. So, Katie had to dress the same. Then they decided to wear fairy wings. At that point Annie had to be a fairy. Here are the end results:

Annie, trying to put on her dress shoes.

Katie, blue wings in all.

Mr. Vinny, trying to eat the chop sticks that Katie had to carry.

Katie and Taylor at the neighbor's house.

And, of course, you have to have pumpkins for Halloween. Here is what we carved:

My first pumpkin, with cute face.


My second pumpkin, made with the pumpkin cut out kit.

Katie's pumpkin, an outline of Emily Strange's cate

Annie's pumpkin, another cute face. (Don't worry, I carved it for her.)

And, Mr. S's scary pumpkin. It almost looks like Oogie from Nightmare Before Christmas.

And, finally, my Embossed Leaves socks, finished just in time for the SAM4 KAL deadline.

The Specs:

Pattern: Embossed Leaves from Interweave Knits Winter '05
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Color: # 169
Needles: US 1
Started: Oct. 21, 2007
Finished: Oct. 31, 2007
Mods: I did 5 full reps in the leg, and 2 1/2 reps for the instep. And I mistakenly did a shallow heel gusset. That's what I get for turning a heel while I'm tired.

I want to make another pair of these, but in a solid, and to pattern.

And, on to a new month, already.

Happy Halloween!

Just a quick post to say that I finished my Embossed Leaves socks for the SAM4 KAL while watching the Ghosthunters Live investigation of Waverly Hills. Spooky! I'll post pics of the socks and the girls while trick or treating.

Happy Halloween!

What have I done this week?

That's a good question. Well, let me recall.

Monday I finished my Harvest Sock Swap pal's sock, and casted on an Embossed Leaves sock for myself, in the same color way of Trekking as I used for my pal.

Tuesday I developed a soar throat. Stopped at the store for soup after picking up the girls. Went home, made said soup, and waited for my Auntie Elaine to drop off some yarn for knitting I promised to do for the family Charity auction. No knitting accomplished.

Wednesday, my throat wasn't soar, but I felt like shite! Went home, made a quick one dish oven meal, and sacked out to watch Ghost Hunters all evening with Mr. S. No knitting accomplished.

Thursday, felt a little better, voice was a little horse. Didn't feel like cooking dinner, hit Rally's, and went home to watch Grease & Grease 2 with the girls. Knitting accomplished, finished the first sock of my Embossed Leaves.

Today? Well, as soon as I get off of work, I have to pick up Mr. S at my house. Then it's off the pick up the girls and Taylor. Once all the kidlings have been loaded into my dark green easter egg of a car (a Kia Rio Cinco wagon), we are off to Dayton. Katie and Taylor are staying in Dayton for the weekend for my niece's b-day. And, at lunch, I splurged a little and bought 4 balls of Regia 4 fadig in natural, to make a pair of Over the Knee socks from Handknit Holidays. I have been waiting to make these socks for a long while. I just had to make up my mind of what yarn and in what color. I figured that natural is the best choice, as we like to dress up in costume for festivals, balls and such, and it would go with a lot of my period costumes and not look out of place.

Tomorrow, for as craptastic as I feel, we are going shopping, over most of the city. There is a book that I want that details how to make period costumes, so I'm off to see if the Book Loft in German Village has a copy (if not, I'll order from Amazon); Mr. S wants to go to Polaris mall (all I can think of is Rocky Mountian Chocolate factory and the giant caramel apples, yummmy!); and then various other locations that I'm sure we'll find time to get into.

So, that was my week, in a nutshell. How was your week?

An FO and an update and a package!

I did it! I finally finished my Candle Flame Shawl. But first, I'll start with the update.

I wasn't able to find the color way of Lana Grossa that I wanted for my Harvest Sock Swap pal. But I did find some nice Trekking that will work just lovely. See:

So, I have a pattern, I know have sock yarn, and some great ideas for goodies. So, since I have knitted a stitch since I finished the shawl, I'll be casting on tomorrow.

Now for the package. Monday evening, I came in late and there was a box sitting on the kitchen table. I didn't get to open it until yesterday, and wasn't able to blog about it till today, 'cause those blasted pixies ran off with my camera cord! Really, if anyone have a pixie bone grinder, please send it this way. Anywho! Here is what my lovely pal, Claudia from Rhode Island, sent me:

Here is the card that was in the package, along with the pattern for the bag:

Here is the bag, in the perfect colors. It will go with just about everything I have:

Here are some yummy goodies! Mmmm...... White chocolate, my favorite! I've had to fight off the girls and Mr. S. There is a good sized sail boat and 2 pumpkin suckers:

Here's some fibery goodness. Some Paton's SWS, which I haven't got a chance to work with yet. The colors remind me of Lorna's Laces Mixed Berries:

And here's a smell good. A great smelling Juicy Apple candle. I love candles:

Thank you, Claudia! I just love everything!

Now for the FO! The Candle Flame Shawl. I love this pattern. I would like to make another, some time. After I finished, I can to the conclusion that it looks a lot better in person that it does on the computer. It turns out fabulous! Here is a pic of when I finished it Friday night, before washing and blocking:

Here it is, after washing, and blocked on a piece of foam insulation board (which was Miss Amy's, and she graciously let me use):
Here is the final pics, washed, blocked, and modeled by the bushes in front of the house:

Here is a close up of the lace detail:

The specs:

Pattern: Candle Flame Shawl from Knit Picks
Yarn: Knit Picks Gossamer
Colorway: Leprechaun
Needles: US 4 circs
Finished size: 16" x 70"
Notes: I worked a Moss Stitch edging, as I hate garter stitch. I worked 15 pattern repeats to get the length needed. You can see all the pics on Ravelry. My profile name is Rosiegypsy.

And I was prompted to finish it so I could wear it to the Loreen McKennitt concert Saturday night. Which, by the way, was beyond fabulous. I have been to few concerts in my day (Kool & the Gang, George Jones, Fall Out Boy, Poison, several Metallica concerts, Limp Bizkit, Lincoln Park, you get the idea), but this was by far the best I have ever been to. The over all atmosphere was relaxed and fun. The band was having a great time just performing. And, we had dinner at the Claddagh Irish Pub. They had some pretty good Guiness beef stew, which was piled on sweet cream mashed potatoes.

So, it's Friday. Is it just me, or has this been the longest week?

Ok, so far this week, we still haven't found the pixies that have been pilfering items. In the mail, I received an old PS1 game that I have been looking for. I won it off of ebay for a penny plus $4.50 shipping. On the shawl, I remeasured and found that I only need 15 repeats, not the 18 I first figured. As of right now, I am half way through repeat 14. Which means that I need to bust a$$ to complete the final repeat and a half, 2" edging, wash and block. But the good news is that we got good seats for the show. Now I just hope everything goes as planned. We still need to decide where we are going to have dinner, and I need to find something to wear that fits my arse. But for now, I'm going to head to the conference room to work on my shawl.

Needed: 1 Pixie bone grinder

I'll explain the title in a minute. But, first. What a wasted weekend! Being that I was on call, I had 3 shipments to watch, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that I had wait for a driver, coming from Philly, to load up 1 skid. Now, I figured that since he loaded in Philly on Friday evening, then he would be in early Saturday morning. Boy, was I wrong. I tried to keep myself busy, knitting as much as I could, but keep my hands free to drop and run at a moments notice. I told them that if he called when he was a half hour outside of Columbus, I could just meet him at the office. I finally got a call around 11 am, just to tell me that the driver would be in around 2. So, I thought I could buckle down and knit my heart out till about 1:30. At 1:15 I got a call that his A/C unit went down, and he was delayed and he would be in around 6 pm. So, the girls and I ran to Wally World with mom. Then, 6 o'clock rolls around, and I get a call from his dispatcher that he was just west of Zanesville, OH. I said, great. I can prep dinner, and leave around 6:30, he'll be there about 7. I was at the office at 6:45. By the time it was all said and done, I didn't get this guy loaded till 8 o'clock, 24 hrs after he loaded in Philly! I was a little angry. We hadn't had dinner yet, Mr. S was waiting for me to get done at the office before coming over, and all that lost knitting time! So, I didn't get the felted bag finished and in the washer until 4 on Sunday. But it looks great! See:

Before felting:


After felting:
I left the pattern book in for size reference. Isn't cute. Here are the specs:

Pattern: Kitchen Sink Bag
Size: Short
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino
Colors: Harvest (multi) & Leaf Green
Needles: 10 1/2 circs
Thoughts: I love this bag, I'll have to make another, for me. This was the first time I used this yarn, and it felts great. I would even use this yarn on a regular pattern.

Ok, on to the Candle Flame Shawl. Yeah, what can I say? I wasn't able to touch it all weekend. I tossed it into my Namaste purse and brought to work on at lunch yesterday. When I picked it up, I was on row 4 of repeat 10, of 18 repeats, 36 rows per repeat. Just a little over whelming. Between what I was able to get done at lunch, and what I was able to work on after pixie hunting in the kitchen (more on that in a minute), all said and done, when I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer, I stopped after row 6 of repeat 11. I am going to try to sneak in a few rows at my desk, as my boss is out on a golf outing today. Then, see how much I can get done at lunch, after running to the bank. So, hopefully, I will have fingers of fury for the next few days, 'cause I so want to wear this to that concert.

Now, for the pixie hunt. I thought I had left the blasted things in the old apartment, when I moved over a year and half ago. Apparently not! In the past month, 1 small frying pan, 1 medium frying pan and one of my Tupperware ice cream scoops (yes, I have 2, but I used to sell Tupperware) have come up missing. Between Miss Amy, Katie, Mr. S and myself, that kitchen has been torn apart more times than I'd like to count. Granted, my pans were about 10 years old and needed replaced, but I wasn't ready to replace them yet. The ice cream scoop wasn't in the best of conditions anymore, but it matched the rest of my hunter green Tupperware. When I finally do find these pixies, they'll be dust! Maybe I'll let the cats have one to play with, it'd serve the little buggers right.

Anywho. For my Harvest Sock Swap update. I have picked out the pattern, bought a few goodies, but I may have to order the yarn I want to use. I'm looking for specific color to go with the whole fall theme.

Ooh! The office manager just went to lunch, now's the time to see if I can sneak a few rows in. Later.

Motivation?

I think I have motivation to knock off 2 projects this weekend. Shall I explain? Why, of course I shall, because unless you decide to find some other blog to read, you're almost a captive audience. Hee hee!

Where to start? Oh yeah! My wonderful man. He loves to do things for me. Say I want to go see a movie (i.e. Resident Evil: Extinction - saw it this past weekend), he does his absolute best to make it happen. I was going on about wanting to go the Witches Ball at the end of the month, so he said we would go. Then, on Tuesday, out the corner of my ear, I hear on the radio that Loreena McKennitt is playing the Palace Theater *only* on Oct. 13th. I happened to mention it to him. And on Wednesday, he tells me that he would love to take me to both, but can only do one, and I had to pick. Mind you, I never said that I wanted to go to the concert (even though I really, really do), I just mentioned it in passing. So, now I have a tough choice. Although, that may be my own fault. See, when I checked Loreena's tour schedule, she will only be in the US this month. So, we may have to order the tickets tonight. And, if that's my choice, then I have to have something to wear. I was thinking that my Candle Flame Shawl would be perfect, but it's just over half way done. If I crack down, I could have it done, washed and blocked in time. However, right now I am working on my Fall Fiber Bag Exchange bag for my pal. So, that being the case, if I really crack down, I can have both done by Monday. I can, really. (I'll just keep telling myself that, and I may actually believe it.) So, in my delusional little brain, once I have my shawl finished, I will have to arrange an outfit around it. Because, as Katie pointed out, this isn't a Fall Out Boy concert, no jeans and t-shirt, because there will be no mosh pit. lol. And, to top it off, I'm on call this weekend for work. As of right now, I have 3 shipments to watch, and I have to come into the office sometime tomorrow (Saturday) to load a truck. So, what do you think? Can I do it?

Is this year over with yet?

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired! Last week, I feel down sick again. Face down, sick. I spent the week in bed. I'm just getting back to normal, or as close as I can get, lol. See, I'm starting to get a sense of humor back. Any way, I didn't even feel like sewing all the stuff I had to for our trip to the Ohio Renaissance Festival. I had to make 2 men's peasant shirts, a whole new wenches costume for me (as I've outgrown my old ones), and a whole wenches costume for Annie, consisting of a skirt, blouse and bodice. So, Saturday, as I was starting to feel really crappy and stayed in my pajamas all day, I pulled out the serger and sewing machine, and buckled down. I finally finished, the next morning. But, take a peek at the results below:

From left to right we have: Mr. S, Taylor, me, Katie, Chris, Cassi, Dylan and Annie down front.

Here, we have the girls. Ain't they cute?


And, of course, the mandatory silly pic.


Then, we have Mr. S and me.


Then we have my girls and me. Well, technically, Taylor isn't mine, but she's adopted me as her second mom.

And, speaking of my adopted daughter, she's good a sneaking pics. Can you tell how thrilled I am?


Then, my swashbuckling daughters swung into action. Here's Katie in the Safer Sword arena.


And Annie couldn't be out done.


The gown that Cassi is wearing in the first pic is one that I made about 8 years ago, for the year we sold at the festival. And ya know what? I actually enjoyed sewing, again. I haven't sewed costumes in almost 2 years.

Anyway, as I'm getting better, I'm started to get my knitting mojo back. That, and the fact that my bestest friend in the whole world, Miss PJ, told me last week that she is pregnant! After she gave up hope over 8 years ago of ever having another child. Now, I get to knit baby things! And I hope it's lots of pink things, as she already has a boy, she needs (and wants) a little girl!

Anyway! I need to get some rest, that way I can maybe knit tomorrow!

Back from exile!

I have my beloved laptop back! Yippee! Not to mention that last week I was on vacation. We didn't really do much, shopped the book stores, shopped the yarn stores, took Katie to her dentist appointment, those kind of things. In the mean time, I have lots of pics. So, let's dive right in, shall we?

To start off the excitement, here is my Summer Sock Swap package from Anne. Just look at all the goodies and the gorgeous sock.


Here is the fabulous skein of Opal she sent:

Here is a better shot of the sock she made me, from Trekking that she found while in the Netherlands. The pattern is Karen's Lace, and I love it:

Here is a tealight holder and yummy smelling tealights (I love candles):

Here's some absolutely great smelling soap:

A post card for my collection:

Some yummy chocolates (had to fight the girls off, they wanted to eat them right away):

A cute note card:

And, finally, the sock on my foot. Just like the socks Anne made me for my birthday (which are my favorite socks, I wear them all the time), they fit me as if I made them. Such a perfect fit:


This weekend, we are off the the Ohio Renaissance Festival. So, I have been busy cutting fabric, and I'll be sewing my little heart out rest of the week. But, Katie doesn't need a costume. After rummaging through my old customes and bits, she has decided to be a pirate wench. And with her attitude, it fits her. Have a peek:

I finished my socks for September for the SAM KAL 4. Another pair of Simply Lovely Lace socks for me:

Specs:

Yarn: Regia
Color: brown
Needles: US 1 DPN's
Pattern: Simply Lovely Lace from Interweave Knits Spring '06
Started: August 26, 2007
Finished: September 6, 2007

This past weekend, Miss Casi, the girls and I went to the Wool Gathering in Yellowsprings, Ohio. I took my camera, but only thought to take any pics at the end of the trip. So, here's Annie, entertaining everyone in the waiting area of the Golden Jersey Inn restarant at the dairy, with a puppet show. They were finger puppets that I bought her.

I did get another set of Crystal Palace US 1 DPN's, to replace the set of which I lost a needle at the Morris family reunion. I got another type of US 1 DPN's that I can't think of right now. I got some Paca-Peds sock yarn in fall colors. And I think that's it. I'll be going again next year.

Up next is a pic of Annie eating a home made waffle. See, during the time my laptop was down, I found a great little waffle iron for $8 at Wally World. I couldn't pass it up, and it's proved it's worthy-ness.

Next up is the package that was on the porch today. It's my Football Along Swap package from Holly. Yippee! So, here's what was in the box. We start off with some plates and napkins in the football theme:

Up next is Lorna's Lace Celtic Denim pattern, I can't wait to try this one:

Next we have some Kiogu Sock yarn, in colors close to the my favorite pro team, the Dallas Cowboys:

There was also a goodie bag! And she got all my favorites - York, gummy bears, Lindt's mint chocolate and M&M's:

She also sent me 3 of her family's favortie dip recipes, and they are all my favorite, too:

And, a blue candle, the scent is Blackberry Cobbler, yum!

In other things, I'll be sending out Harvest Sock Swap pals tomorrow. This is the biggest swap so far, there are 32 of us. This will be fun!

And, I got my Ravelry invite today! I played on it at work between things. It's addictive, with a capital A!!!! So, after I get the pals out, if I drop off the face of the earth, that's where I'll be. My Ravelry name is Rosiegypsy, if you'd like to say hi. Off to drag out my stash.